A wire harness is a bundle of wires that can be handled as an element and can be easily installed to interconnect components of various electrical and electronic systems. The shape of a wire harness is dictated by the environment for the harness and the particular location of connections for the harness. Accordingly, a wire harness often includes one or more bends and branches for routing various wire segments of the harness to their corresponding connection points.
A harness often includes 50 or more wires, each uniquely terminated and uniquely positioned. It is important that each wire extend from a predetermined position on one connector to the corresponding position on a second connector. Bends must be formed into each wire during layup or the final product since it is difficult to bend the assembled bundles of wires.
When done manually, the wires are cut to length after being inserted into the originating connectors and being laid up in the necessary path. Each wire must be identified so that the technician can place the correct wire in the correct contact. Even for simple harnesses, the manual assembly of wire harnesses is extremely labor intensive.